ZAMBIA HOCKEY TEAMS LEAVE FOR HARARE

Zambia hockey teams whose home ground is the OYDC Zambia Thursday morning left for Harare Zimbabwe for an international friendly competition.

The competition will run from 11 to 13 August 2023 and both nations will use the friendly games to prepare for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympic Qualifiers games to be hosted by South Africa later in the year.

The games for Zambia Vs Zimbabwe for both men’s and women’s will be played at 13:30 CAT and 15:10 CAT respectively.

Floyd Chomba will lead the Women’s team as Head Coach while David Kapeso will serve as assistant coach for the men’s team.

All coaches have declared their teams ready for the games adding that Zambia needs more exposure if they are to prepare adequately for future prestigious international competitions.

Last month the Zambia Hockey Association announced intensifying training at the OYDC Zambia ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Qualifiers Games to be hosted in South Africa.

Qualifiers games will be held in Johannesburg from 29 October to 5 November 2023 and Zambia is expected to take on countries like Egypt, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia and the hosts South Africa.

The top teams in each gender category will earn a direct spot in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, Zambia Hockey Association General Secretary Elvis Bwalya has paid gratitude to each person who has made the trip to Zimbabwe possible adding that more support is needed if hockey is to continue reaping medals. He further thanks the OYDC Zambia management for making sure that facilities for training back home are available and also allowing most of its junior players to compete in developmental leagues such as the Teulings Youth Sports Challenge which has seen three-quarters of players headed to Zimbabwe make up the national teams.